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The Fed’s Hawkish Pause and Energy’s Power Play · The SPY Trader

• 0:00
  Hello everyone and welcome back to Spy Trader!
• 0:03
  I am your host, Sunny Portfolios, coming to you live at 2:30 pm on Wednesday, October 28th, 2026, here in the beautiful Pacific time zone.
• 0:12
  It is great to have you with us for our afternoon update.
• 0:15
  We are checking in on the markets as we move through another busy session, and the big word for today is resilience.
• 0:21
  Even with a lot of noise coming from Washington and across the globe, the major indices are holding their heads high.
• 0:29
  Right now, the S&P 500 is trading up point three percent, sitting near 7,744.
• 0:34
  The Nasdaq Composite is also up point three percent at 26,550, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average is up about point two percent, adding nearly 100 points.
• 0:44
  We are seeing some fascinating moves under the hood, so let's dive into what is driving the action.
• 0:50
  The headline story today is the Federal Reserve.
• 0:53
  We just wrapped up the seventh Fed meeting of the year, and the decision is in: they are sticking with the current interest rates of 3.75 to 4.00 percent.
• 1:02
  It was a 10to2 vote, which tells us there is a bit of a disagreement behind the scenes.
• 1:08
  Two members actually wanted to hike rates today.
• 1:11
  Fed Chair Kevin Warsh described this as a waitandsee approach because inflation is still hovering at 3.7 percent.
• 1:17
  This hawkish pause sent some ripples through the bond market, particularly with the iShares 20 plus Year Treasury Bond ETF, also known as TLT.
• 1:26
  We saw the 2year yield spike up to 4.79 percent before things calmed down a bit.
• 1:32
  Looking at the sectors, Energy continues to be the absolute star of 2026.
• 1:37
  The Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund, or XLE, is up over 49 percent yeartodate.
• 1:42
  This is because crude prices have hit 111 dollars a barrel due to the ongoing tensions in the Middle East.
• 1:49
  Meanwhile, in Technology, we are seeing some incredible numbers despite some volatility.
• 1:53
  Oracle is the big winner today, surging over 10 percent after they announced a huge revenue goal for 2030.
• 1:59
  On the flip side, Healthcare is a bit of a mixed bag.
• 2:03
  While the sector is up 12.5 percent this year, Boston Scientific fell 6 percent today because they are still dealing with the fallout from a cyberattack.
• 2:12
  Now, we cannot talk about the market without mentioning the Magnificent Seven earnings.
• 2:17
  Alphabet, or Google, really impressed the crowd with a huge revenue beat.
• 2:21
  Their cloud business grew by a staggering 103 percent, which shows that all that investment in Artificial Intelligence is finally paying off.
• 2:29
  Meta Platforms also reported strong revenue of over 64 billion dollars, though they did have to set aside 10 billion for a legal settlement.
• 2:38
  And over in the chip world, Micron is up nearly 6 percent because the demand for AI memory is just through the roof.
• 2:44
  So, what does this mean for your portfolio?
• 2:47
  Here are three things to consider.
• 2:49
  First, you might want to look at overweighting Energy as a hedge.
• 2:53
  With the conflict in the Middle East and Brent crude staying high, the Vanguard Energy ETF, ticker VDE, or individual giants like ExxonMobil are acting as a great buffer against inflation.
• 3:04
  They are generating record cash and paying out nice dividends.
• 3:07
  Second, focus on AI infrastructure rather than just software.
• 3:11
  As we saw with Alphabet and Oracle, the companies building the picks and shovels are the ones winning right now.
• 3:17
  The Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund, or XLK, is a great way to get exposure to these cloud and hardware leaders while keeping your risk spread out.
• 3:26
  Finally, if you are looking for stability, consider shortduration fixed income.
• 3:31
  Longterm bonds like TLT are very jumpy right now because of the Fed's talk.
• 3:35
  Instead, the iShares ShortTerm Treasury Bond ETF, or SHV, allows you to capture a 4 percent yield without worrying too much about your bond prices dropping if rates go up later.
• 3:46
  Overall, the market is steady but cautious.
• 3:48
  We are all waiting to see if Microsoft can keep the momentum going when they report earnings tonight.
• 3:54
  Until then, keep an eye on those charts and stay diversified.
• 3:57
  I am Sunny Portfolios, and this has been your afternoon update from Spy Trader.
• 4:02
  Have a wonderful rest of your day!